dub

What Is This So-Called "DUB"?

I will summarize for you what my opinion of Dub is. This will be most relevant since I am the one selecting the music played on "Version-ity."

Dub originated as a subgenre of reggae in Jamaica around 1969. Most of the characteristics that it still retains today were implemented and developed by a mixing engineer known as King Tubby (born Osborne Ruddock) throughout the early 1970's. King Tubby was the sound engineer (in his own prolific recording studio) for many big reggae names throughout the late sixties, seventies and the early eighties. Thoughout that time (and even now, to some extent), 7" records ("45's") were the most commonly bought/distributed form of music in Jamaica. In the early days, a 7" would have two songs on it. Generally Sound Systems would only play the "A-side" as it generally contained the "Hit". The "B-side" would (usually) be a less significant song by the same artist. King Tubby changed this trend. After the vocal mix was recorded in his studio, King Tubby would re-mix or "Dub" the song, producing a Dub version (or simply called the "version"). In this sense, a dub mix began to refer to a mix of a reggae song that generally had little to no lyrics. Those lyrics that were present would be dropped in and out at seemingly random intervals and would be laden with effects (generally echo and reverb). Any other track is also a candidate for being faded in and out of the mix at the will of the mixing engineer (in this case referred to as the Dub Organiser). Introducing these versions to the red-eyed rastas at the sound systems/dancehalls in the early seventies resulted in a new craze. As usual, people would be dancing along to the vocal versions of the newest reggae tunes they were familiar with however dubs added a new twist to the dances. All of the sudden, the dub version of a well-known song would come on and it would be the same rhythm, but something was terribly wrong! Instead of lyrics being the focus of the song, the heart of dub was the Bass and Drums. It became standard to release a 7" single with the vocal version of the tune on one side and the Dub on the other. This was more profitable for the artists because they only needed one song to release a record.

The popularity of dub in the sound systems had a strong effect.... Other recording studios had to keep up with the craze, so eventually virtually every reggae studio in Jamaica began providing Dub versions of their releases for the sound systems. Artists who recorded elswhere would often bring their master tapes have their tapes brought to "Tubby's" for a proper dub treatment. Sound systems would have exclusive dub mixes of songs that came from their studios that would only be played in their sound. These exclusive mixes were eventually recorded on acetate "Dub Plates" whose sound quality would degrade after only a small number of plays. Even today, the music industry will still produce exclusive dub plates, not just for reggae sound systems, but even for many popular DJ's/music producers who want to play their latest mixdowns at the clubs as soon as possible.

The next step in the dub revolution was to rework dub riddims with a new instrument replacing the melody that would have been carried by the singer in the original version. Glen Da Costa and Tommy McCook (of the Skatalites) would add sax to some well known riddims. Jackie Mittoo from Studio One introduced various organ melodies over many well-established Studio One rhythms and produced many records this way, providing the public with yet more forms of the same songs. Augustus Pablo is probably the most well known musician for melodifying riddims melodiously with his trusty melodica. Introduction of this instrument (previously well known for its use in western movie soundtracks) added a new trend to the dub scene, but none would ever live to match the talent of Augustus Pablo at this game.

Another technique that arose due to the popularity of dub was so-called "DeeJay"ing. Generally, sound systems were only equipped with one turntable, thus there would be an interlude between songs. It was the DeeJay's job to add hype to the crowd and keep them from getting bored during the record changes. It is said that one day, a DeeJay by the name of U-Roy was chatting to the crowd on the mic, the dub started to play and he just kept chatting. Many people liked this, so it caught on. Eventually every sound system got its own DeeJay who would shout catch phrases, nursery rhymes, popular sayings, bits of rastafari teachings, all strung together to go along with the rhythm of the song. Some DeeJays had good rhythym, rhyme and flow while others would make little sense and add no value to the music... Nonetheless, most of them released many of their own albums in this style. U-Roy, I-Roy, Prince Jazzbo (his rival), Dennis Alcapone, Dillinger (his understudy), Mikey Dread, Dr. Alimantado were some of the more popular (early) Deejays. Some DeeJays would attempt to sing but they were generally unsuccessful (some of the good ones became known as "SingJays"). In a manner of speaking, the DeeJay style laid the groundwork for the birth of modern Rap music. Other music talkers took a more poetic/philosophical point of view. Prince Far I was one to take this trade more seriously in his often political and often moral chants which he put over live rhythms, rather than dub versions of other artists. The late 1970's also saw the birth of Dub Poetry, this genre to date still being led by The Dub Poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson. Not to be confused with the Deejay technique, LKJ told me quite heatedly in an interview, his style involves building the music with the poem. The bassline and rhythm are tied integrally with the poetry. Although Jamaica (and England) has seen a fair number of Dub Poets (Michael Smith, Mutabaruka, Oku Onuora), none of them have matched the talent or intensity of LKJ.

England was the first country outside of the Carribean to embrace reggae music. The same goes for dub. A few engineers (namely Neil "Mad Professor" Fraser, Adrian Sherwood, and Jah Shaka) picked up on the dub vibe and started to produce dub recordings out of England. UK Dub yeilded a similar yet distinct sound setting the stage for many further developments all over the world.

With the introduction of digital technology in reggae studios such as King Tubby's, dub music also gained a new personality. Synthesizers were introduced and Drums and Basslines began to be programmed. Some would say that a lot of the personality of the music was lost with these developments, as was true for many forms of music. However, digital reggae and dub is not without its charm. Some of the early digital riddims created in Tubby's studio (eg. Sleng Teng) have held up just as well throughout the ages as any of the classic riddims. The other elements of reggae also moved forward with these digital advances. Eventually, thestage was set for the development of modern Dancehall music. This can be seen as a branching point for reggae music. Many studios opted for the digital route and the new reggae sound was shaped by the sounds digital technologies could produce. Most of the popular music aimed at the dancehalls was produced in this way and so the sound evolved to rely on the digital sound.

Dub is a loose term that has been applied to many musical forms and mixing/remixing techniques. I have just discussed its birth and application to reggae music in its early stages. Here I will offer you a definition for the original form of dub, however I hope to extend the definition later to be more all-encompassing. To summarize, the term "dub" is derived from the word "Double" and simply refers to adding music/sound/lyrics to a tape already containing music thus doubling (or layering) the sound. In Jamaica, Lee "Scratch" Perry was the first to use the technique (in this manner of speaking). He would often record session musicians playing the standard instruments on a 4-track mixer. Later, Perry would dump this audio onto one track while he recorded the vocals from a singer and would still have free tracks to add sound effects, more instruments or whatever else he could come up with (babies crying, cows mooing...). As the story goes, a young King Tubby would visit Perry's studio and he felt that the original mixdowns were already music. Perry provided tubby with tapes of these instrumental mixes and Tubby took them to his own studio and began experimenting with dubbing them in his own way. Many of the original dub producers are now either dead (King Tubby), senile (Lee Perry) or have changed with the times and are now prolific producers of Dancehall (King Jammy). As all music evolves, Dub has also taken on new personalities. When looking for records containing dub, one may often encounter a label indicating a "Dub Mix", however this often pertains to an instrumental of some '80s pop hit (many American producers missed the whole point of Dub and thought it meant instrumental version). However, there are modern forms of dub that don't necessarily have to be made by the re-mixing of a reggae tune. I feel that as long as music retains most of the qualities of a genre, it doesn't matter how it is created. Thus, modern dub is not limited by such a simple definition but rather it retains many of the qualities (most importantly, the feeling) of the original Dub music. Whether it is created entirely electronically, or by one person recording one track at a time and playing all the original reggae instruments, dub is still being made today. In fact, it is experiencing a large resurgence right now, partially fuelled by the increasing number of Dub albums that are being reissued and made available (sometimes for the first time) in North America.

To Be Continued When I have more time....